Dec. 26, 2013

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Preservationists demonstrate in front of Michigan Central Station in Detroit in 2009, calling for the building to be saved. Their slogan is 'This Place Matters.' / Rashaun Rucker/Detroit Free Press

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So what on earth are we to do with Detroit’s beat-up old train station?

As Michigan Central Station turns 100 years old today, we look back at this landmark’s storied past. But what lies in its future?

Honestly? No clue. But I do know that we must save it.

No question, the depot is one of the world’s most notorious symbols of urban decay. It is Detroit’s 500,000-square-foot abandoned elephant in the room. Many in metro Detroit want to see it restored to its former glory — but I suspect there aren’t many who think it can be.

Its renovation is estimated to cost between $100 million and $300 million. That’s a price gap as large as the building itself — but sprucing it up won’t be cheap, regardless.

And even if you could make the finances work, what would you do with this behemoth? It’s been pitched as everything from a Homeland Security and Border Patrol center to a Detroit police HQ. The only sane proposal for it was a casino, with a hotel in its tower and a gaming hall in its waiting room. But those dice have been rolled. The Motor City’s three casinos are already firmly in place, and expansion seems unlikely.

And its whereabouts, more than a generous stone’s throw from downtown, doesn’t do the landmark any favors. In fact, its location has been a hindrance since the day it opened. Had it been built in the heart of downtown, its prospects for rebirth would be infinitely greater — and it might not have been plundered to the degree that it has been.

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The incredible hulk’s size doesn’t help matters, either. It’s possible that you could find a few tenants willing to move into a couple floors, but the whole thing? Demand for office space in Detroit — let alone that far from downtown — isn’t nearly at the level that would make that a reality. And consider the thought of a half-renovated building, anyway. Would it be up to code? Would it even be safe? And how attractive — or unattractive — could it possibly be?

The odds are certainly stacked against restoring Michigan Central. But even without a clear plan for the building’s immediate future, there are plenty of reasons to keep the old wreck around.

For starters, the news that its owner is finally spending money to shore up the place offers some hope. While asbestos remediation and a few new windows slapped here and there are a far cry from a full renovation, they show that the Moroun family hasn’t completely written off the building. Billionaire Manuel (Matty) Moroun has the coin to save the depot, he just wouldn’t make money off the venture. Still, saving this landmark for future generations of Detroiters would certainly help his legacy more so than any bridge would.

Michigan Central also is on the National Register of Historic Places, so it qualifies for the historic tax credits that are essential for rehabbing such a property. But how much longer do we hold out hope? Yes, Michigan Central has been shuttered for 25 years now, but remember that the Book-Cadillac Hotel closed four years earlier. The Fort Shelby Hotel closed in 1974, 14 years ahead of the depot’s demise. Both of those historic properties have since been brought back to life and are proof that the city’s past will play a key role in its future. Just because a historic building looks a little worse for wear today doesn’t mean it can’t shine tomorrow.

While there is no way Detroit can preserve all of its historic architecture, there is a select group of must-save, irreplaceable treasures that deserve a little more patience — even if that patience far exceeds that given in other cities. Slap the old depot on that list.

And whether it’s the type of tourist attraction you’d like, you can’t argue the fact that the ruin lures tourists to Detroit. The comparison has been made to the Coliseum in Rome or Parthenon in Athens, Greece. You can’t seem to Google “Detroit” without seeing dozens of images of it.

Yes, Michigan Central Station is a heartbreaking testament to how far our city has fallen, a towering symbol of decay that cannot be swept under the rug and hidden from out-of-towners. But if we send this irreplaceable landmark off to the architectural graveyard, it is gone forever. Furthermore, if the demolitions of Hudson’s and the Statler Hotel have shown Detroit anything, it’s that razing a giant eyesore often creates another ugly hole in our city’s urban fabric, leaving us with a skyline that is like a smile pockmarked by missing teeth.

Time and time again, hopes have been dashed that this massive symbol of the city’s fall will become a proud symbol of its rebirth. If we hold out hope — something Detroit isn’t exactly short on these days — we stand nothing but to gain.

Sure, finding the will and the train cars full of cash that such a resurrection would require won’t be easy, but what in our city has been?

Dan Austin, assistant editor for opinion digital/interactive, also runs the Detroit architectural resource HistoricDetroit.org. He has written two books, “Forgotten Landmarks of Detroit” and “Lost Detroit.” Contact him at daustin99@freepress.com.